


only you

by lord_is_it_mine



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Askbox Fic, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drabble, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Fluff, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Sleepy Cuddles, Tumblr Prompt, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21748888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lord_is_it_mine/pseuds/lord_is_it_mine
Summary: “It’s 2015,” Bucky repeats. “You’re home, in our apartment in Brooklyn. You’re safe, I’m safe. No one is in trouble- the world isn’t ending, nobody needs you to save it.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 12
Kudos: 82





	only you

**Author's Note:**

> anon asked: stucky + fluff+ ignoring canon
> 
> you're in luck- i've been ignoring canon since 2014

Steve wakes up with a start, gasping and sputtering as he feels around the bed for something to ground him. Fortunately, Bucky is right there, like always, spread out like a starfish on his side of the mattress, face smushed into the pillow, snoring softly. Steve reaches for his hand, pulling it close to his chest while he focuses on steadying his breathing.

Bucky stirs, sighing his way out of sleep, lifting his head and squinting at Steve through the darkness. He must be able to see the terror on Steve’s face, his eyes bigger than saucerus- he rolls quickly onto his side, cradling Steve’s head in his hands and gently bumping their foreheads together.

“Hey, Stevie, ‘s alright, it was just a dream.”

“Buck, where-” Steve is holding onto Bucky’s wrists, for dear life it seems like. “What year is it?”

“It’s 2015,” Bucky says, solemn but softly. It’s not uncommon for one of them to bolt awake in the middle of the night and not know where they are, or when they are. Men out of time.

“It’s 2015,” Bucky repeats. “You’re home, in our apartment in Brooklyn. You’re safe, I’m safe. No one is in trouble- the world isn’t ending, nobody needs you to save it.”

Steve takes another breath, deeper this time, steady, in through his nose and out through his mouth. He’s able to let go of Bucky for a moment, only to run a hand through his hair and lean in for a kiss. Bucky hums softly and kisses him back, then pulls Steve close, rolling over so Steve can rest his head on Bucky’s chest, listening intently to the heartbeat that he once thought he’d never hear again.

“Thanks, Buck,” he whispers, coming back to himself.

“Anytime, pal.” There’s a smile in Bucky’s voice, quiet and warm.

There’s no invitation to talk about it, no pressure- but Steve knows that Bucky will be happy to listen, to take on Steve’s burdens just as Steve would be happy to do the same for him.

“It felt like a whole other lifetime,” he begins, going on to explain the marathon of a dream in its entirety. He leaves out some things and paraphrases others, (Tony did so many outlandish things, it would take him all night to lay them out in detail). There are robots and aliens (friendly and not friendly) and a whole country in Africa that no one knows about. He leaves out the part about Bucky willingly going back into cryo, because he’s appalled at his own subconscious for coming up with something so awful. 

Eventually he gets to the final act; Thanos, Tony dying, and the infinity stones having to go back where they came from.

“So I went,” he whispers, voice hoarse from talking for so long. “I just went and left you. After all that, everything I had done to finally get you back- I just left. I went and lived a whole life without you. I married Peggy, which is about ten kinds of fucked up- and when I finally saw you again, I was an old man, and I didn’t even regret what I’d done.”

“Well, shit,” Bucky says, the first time he’s opened his mouth since Steve started recounting his dream. “What a nightmare.”

Steve huffs out a laugh, although he doesn’t really find it all that funny. “I just don’t understand why I’d dream any of that.”

“Who knows?" Bucky shrugs, playing with Steve’s hair. “Why do our brains do any of the shit they do? We’re a couple’a medical mysteries already. It’s really no wonder-”

“Bucky.” Steve leans up on his elbow, looking Bucky in the eye. “You know I’d never actually do that to you, right? You know I wouldn’t leave you.”

“Yeah.” Bucky grins. “I think I got the hint, probably around the time you jumped into enemy territory and stormed a HYDRA base by yourself because you thought I _might_ be there.” He pulls Steve up to lie next to him, resting his hand on Steve’s rib cage. Steve shivers and pulls the blankets up around them.

“I promise to never leave you to go time travelling.”

“Good.” Bucky yawns. “‘Cause I’d just go with you anyway.”

“I love you,” Steve murmurs, stroking Bucky’s cheek with his fingertips. “So damn much.”

Bucky catches his hand, kissing each of those fingertips in turn, finally kissing his palm.

“It’s always been you, for my whole life,” Bucky murmurs back, drifting off again. So is Steve- suspended in that middle space between sleeping and waking. “Only you.”

Steve falls back asleep like this- with Bucky’s words in his ears, Bucky’s arms around him, knowing- _knowing_ \- that this, here and now, is where he belongs.

**Author's Note:**

> look at me fixing the whole mcu in 800 words or less, get after it bitch!
> 
> kudos are great, comments are better, both are the best. im on tumblr @maudmont send me some ficlet prompts


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